Sorry for the late posting of this week’s Friday mailbag, folks. (Valentine’s Day evening was rough.) But here it is, complete with fans’ questions and comments on Adrien Broner, The Problem’s Saturday lightweight title defense against Gavin Rees, and other subjects. Enjoy!

The sport of boxing lost some of its most colorful characters — including iconic figures such as Emanuel Steward, Carmen Basilio, Angelo Dundee, Teofilo Stevenson, Bert Sugar, Hector Camacho and Johnny Tapia — in 2012.

Carmen Basilio, a dynamic punching machine who won world titles in two weight divisions, is best known for defeating the great Sugar Ray Robinson to win the middleweight championship in 1957, pictured here…

Boxing historian Lee Groves pays tribute to the hall-of-fame career and inspirational life of former welterweight and middleweight champion Carmen Basilio, who was as disciplined and principled outside of the ring as he was tough and tenacious inside of it.